People who manufacture flavored vodka have a "rectification" license (like a brewer's license).

But here's the catch: because of the "tied house" rules that prevent distillers from owning bars, nobody who has a rectifiers license may also have an "on-sale" license, and vice versa.

There are specific, very narrow exceptions for situations like wineries selling glasses of wine on-site, and a completely distinct license for brew-pubs, but as I understand it -- if ABC's interpretation of this law is correct, which it is not -- there exists no license which allows someone to both mix and serve sangria.

But ABC's interpretation of the law is nonsensical. Their notion about the distinction between serving it immediately, and letting it sit for a while first, is completely made-up. It does not exist in the code. If sangria, infused vodka and limoncello are "rectification", then so is every cocktail ever made, and therefore all cocktails are illegal.

So their brand-new interpretation of this decades-old law is a joke. It's simply harassment.

Where I come from every cocktail made in a licensed premises has to be made in the following way:

1. Take legal measures of spirits - typically using optics, but various methods are sanctioned.2. Mix them together with whatever you like, however you like

The result is that if you buy a cocktail from a bar where the (large print, legally required) sign says measures are 35ml, and it says it has "vodka" in it, there ought to be 35ml of vodka in that cocktail. If they (mistakenly, or on purpose) put say 28ml of vodka into the drink, that's not a legal measure and they can have their license taken away. Maybe it would taste better with slightly less vodka in it, but that's hard luck.

These rules were invented as a consumer protection measure, along with various other restrictions and requirements, so that it was possible to walk into a bar and figure out what you were getting for your money, and to prohibit adulteration.

This approach seems completely sane, and yet it seems to me that it bans "infusions" or other ideas where the bar owner gets to mix whatever he likes in the punters drinks and claim it's OK, while permitting traditional cocktails.

Fortunately, I do not live in a part of the world that mandates "measured pours". I've been to those places, and you can't get a decent cocktail there to save your life. Measured pour transforms the job of bartender from a "food production" job to a "food service" job. It removes all the discretion and skill by mandate. It's the difference between a cook, and simply running the cash register.

Does this mean that Jello shots are illegal? Do clubs these days even have Jello shots? I haven't been to a non-restaurant with a liquor bar other than to see a band or perform myself in many years. I'm trying to think of any other things that are, by necessity, prepared in advance (other than infusions).